Born in Tehran in 1923, he first climbed his way into
college graduating with degrees in Law and Engineering from Tehran University. While World War II was brewing, he was able to enroll in Cornell University with the help of Colonel Crawford, an
American friend in Iran at the time. After finishing his PhD at Cornell University, he returned to Iran and became deputy minister in Iran’s ministry of Health, under Dr Jahanshah Saleh in 1955. Dr. Amuzegar was among the first of Iran‘s politicians schooled and trained in the United States. Prior to that time, Iran’s elite were almost entirely trained in France, among other European states.

Dr. Amuzegar then soon became Minister of Labour and then Minister of Health in the cabinet of prime minister Hasan-ali Mansour. He then
became Minister of Finance in the cabinet of Amir Abbas Hoveida after the assassination of Prime minister Mansour in 1964, remaining in
that post for nine years.

In 1971, he and Sheikh Ahmed
Zaki Yamani of Saudi Arabia were instrumental in implementing the series of price hikes that quadrupled the price of oil and provided the resources for Iran to modernize its infrastructure, agriculture, and defense. For this accomplishment, Amuzegar was awarded the Taj-e Iran, first class, an honor normally reserved for only the prime minister and former prime ministers. He was appointed Minister of the Interior in 1974.

In December 1975 he was taken hostage by the Venezuelan terrorist Carlos the Jackal during an OPEC meeting. Carlos was ordered to execute him, but did not do so, and Amouzger was released along with the other hostages after a few days.

However, he rapidlybecame unpopular as he attempted to slow the overheated economy with measures that, although generally thought necessary, triggered a downturn in employment and private sector profits that would later compound the government’s problems. Hence in the wake of Khomeini‘s revolution, he soon resigned and was replaced by Jafar Sharif-Emami.

Dr. Amuzegar today resides in the United States. A
memorable quote by Dr. Amuzegar:

“We [Iranians] were invaded by Greeks, Arabs, Mongols, and Turks,
but we never lost our identity because foreign invaders would find a richer culture in Persians than that of their own.”